A Close Run Thing

Book Review

By the Old Duffer

Allan Mallinson for Bantam

Are you tired of historical fiction where the hero is a manly little chap, the finest shot in his regiment but denied promotion by aristocratic libidinous fools? However, imagine your surprise, he manages to overcome all by an act of singular brilliance that leads to his promotion by GOC, all of which is accepted with the bluff modesty of the true hero? Hard luck mate Mallinson seeks to emulate O'Brian so you are in for the usual old tommyrot. Never was the lack of decent quasi-Flashman more keenly felt than here.

However, if you can put up with this mind-sopping rot (say for example you were a team captain at school and have long felt you were unjustly sneered at as a bone-head) then Mallinson's book is not bad. This is a cavalry officer who cares for his horses, whether the social milieu is correct (putting aside the soppy love-interest that is Jane Austen scripted by Sylvie Krin) is another matter but I can believe Mallinson has immersed himself in the period. Our hero, a ghastly little prig like Scud East, shines on piquet duty, invades France, goes to Ireland and heroically stands in the way of the bailiffs, only to return to Waterloo. Here he is fêted by the Duke, meets Blücher, but when it comes to a decent charge his horse is killed, dumping our hero in the demi-world of "nettoyers". In this at least Mallinson rises above the limits of his genre. In the next volume the hero departs to serve John Company. One will probably ride a little further with him.

More Old Duffer's Book Corner (book reviews)

Marengo and Hohenlinden: Napoleon's Rise to Power Book Review.

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